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CES 2013: Samsung curved OLED TV may portend plans for its phones

LAS VEGAS, Jan 08, 2013 (Los Angeles Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Samsung may have given consumers a sneak peek at its smartphone plans with a new TV it announced Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show.

At its booth in the Las Vegas Convention Center, the South Korean company displayed the world's first curved OLED TV. From afar, the TV looked like any other set that might be on display at a tech show, but once Samsung spokesman Scott Cohen pointed out the new gadget, I began to notice its unusual curved screen.

The picture quality was, unsurprisingly, remarkable and the weird curve didn't really affect the way my eyes saw the image.

Cohen explained that the curved screen gives consumers more viewing angles where the picture appears just as it would if they were looking straight on at the TV. Cohen also said that the curved screen is intended to give viewers a more realistic and more grand experience, similar to that of going to an IMAX movie theater.

OLED, which stands for organic light-emitting diode, is considered by many to be the next step in television technology, providing vivid images as well as the ability to make very thin displays.

Samsung didn't give a release date, price point or even the size of the curved screen, but it looked to be about as big as a 55-inch display.

The tech giant showed off the curved OLED TV at a time when several reports have said the company is working on curved and bendable OLED screens for its smartphones. Samsung is reportedly readying the technology for its next flagship phone, the Galaxy S IV, which may arrive in the first half of 2013. The company declined to comment on its smartphone plans.

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